Going back to the future

Loggers returning to use of horses to help protect environment

Loggers returning to use of horses to help protect environment

March 12, 2006|SARA ROBINSON The Alpena News

ALPENA, Mich. (AP) -- It is a Sunday afternoon. The woods are adorned with a newly fallen blanket of snow, and the sun has made an appearance for the first time in weeks. In the forest, there is a muffled crackle as a tree crashes to the ground. Five pairs of Belgians and Percherons take turns pulling fallen logs out of woods along an icy grove worn into the snowy path. This may sound like a scene from the logging days or yore, but it isn't. As property owners become increasingly conscious of damage heavy machinery does to the forest, more are choosing to have horses skid lumber cut on their property. "A lot of times we can get trees out without scarring other trees," said Bob Ross of Wilsie Lumber company. Using horses to skid logs also makes select cutting easier. Lachine resident Robert Strong said he chooses timber buyers who log exclusively with horses when he is select cutting hardwood on his property. "A skidder is a very heady piece of equipment," he said. "It will compress the ground it is traveling over and it can do damage to the roots underneath the soil." Trees that are hit by bulky machinery, such as skidders, can be damaged, Strong said. And some trees are more prone to damage than others. Sugar maple, which make up a large portion of the trees on Strong's property, are especially vulnerable. "The minute you damage any sugar maple, like taking bark off from it, you have just about killed that tree," Strong said. Strong said he witnessed the damage a skidder can do years ago when he and several others hired a company to cut timber at a jointly owned hunting camp. "When they got done the ground was gouged up ... It looked like a tank track," he said. "Those grooves are going to be there forever." Unlike skidders, horses can maneuver easily through the trees, and do little damage to the soil. "They leave very little impact on the ground from their weight. They don't run into trees," Strong said. But skidding with horses only makes economic sense if the timber is valuable enough to make up for the additional time it takes to forgo the use of heavy machinery. "Horses are slower, there's no doubt about that," Strong said. "And the guys with the horses can only make money on certain types of cutting. It has to be high valuable timber for them to make enough money to do it." Skidding with horses has been increasing in popularity in recent years, as property owners have become more educated about the importance of protecting the soil, said Dave MacArthur, district forester with Decorative Panels International. The practice of logging with horses nearly came to an end when mechanized logging equipment became available, but has been revived in recent years. Though the use of horses in logging is becoming more popular, a horse will never come close to replacing machinery. According to Ross, of the 5 million board feet of lumber processed by the sawmill he supplies, only 230,000 is logged using horses. "Most loggers need to move more product than you can with a horse," MacArthur said. For Lachine resident Fred McEwen, the benefits of logging with horses are both practical and recreational. McEwen and his team have participated in select cutting his own property a total of four times in recent years. Logging is also a hobby, albeit a profitable one, for Kevin Burr, Keith Wahoski and Scott Black, all of whom were helping McEwen skid logs on 12 acres of his property in January. McEwen said during a typical winter, he, Burr, Wahoski and Black spend the beginning of December and the end of February logging different locations. "It's gotten so a lot of people want their woods cut with horses," Burr said. "We can pretty much keep busy all winter long." Burr said the money generated by skidding helps to pay for the upkeep of his horses. But he skids logs not so much because he can make money at it, but because he enjoys the chance to work with his horses and the chance to spend time outdoors. "It's kind of peaceful. it's quiet," Burr said. Burr said the woods also provide the perfect arena for training young horses with how to cope with loud noises, confined spaces, and interaction with other horses. "They learn more in the woods than they do anywhere else," he said.